EDMOND W. ALLEN.
Edmond W. Allen, merchant, of Muscotah, Kan., is a leading and successful retailer of his city, and one of the hustling citizens of Muscotah. The grocery and meat market of which Mr. Allen is proprietor was first established by Jacob P. Sprang, with whom Mr. Allen became a partner in 1902. He became the sole owner of the business in 1910. Allen’s store is nicely located in one of the large business rooms, 80×25 feet in extent, on the main street of Muscotah, supplemented with an ice house and a ware house for feed and flour. In addition to conducting the grocery and meat market, Mr. Allen is a retailer of ice and conducts a produce exchange, which enabled him to ship eggs and poultry in considerable quantity to distant markets.
Edmond W. Allen was born January 29, 1868, on a farm adjoining the present county farm on the northwest corner, consisting of eighty acres, in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county. He was the son of M. L. Dunlap and Amanda (Walker) Allen, natives of Kentucky. Amanda (Walker) Allen was the daughter of Philip Walker, who immigrated to Kansas from Kentucky, settled on the prairies of Atchison county, but later moved to Missouri. M. L. Dunlap Allen moved from Kentucky to Missouri, and came from that State to Atchison county, Kansas, in 1863. He purchased the farm of 130 acres on which he erected a small house, built out of native sawed lumber. In this house of two rooms several of his children were born, and as the family increased in size, he added four rooms to the residence. He was born in 1830, and died in March, 1886. He was the father of eight children, as follows: Mrs. Francis J. Bucknum, of Oklahoma City; Emily, deceased; William H., living at Saugatuck, Mich.; Robert M., former traveling salesman, who died at Holdredge, Neb., in 1913; Edmond W., the subject of this review; Mrs. Etta M. Hubbard, living in Michigan; Mrs. Addie Myrtle Latta, of Oklahoma City, and Dudley M., deceased. The mother of these children died in 1881. The senior Allen was again married in 1883 to Ruth Robinson, who now resides in Wyandotte county, near the town of Piper. One child, Ethel, was born of this marriage.
Edmond W. Allen was reared on the pioneer farm of his father’s, near Atchison, Kan., and received his primary education in the district schools of his neighborhood, and completed his schooling at Beloit, Kan. When his father died, in 1886, William H. Allen, the oldest son, was appointed administrator of the estate, and guardian of the minor children. He removed all of them to his home at Beloit, where he was engaged in the implement business. This was done in order that William might properly care for the younger children and look after their education. Edmond W., after finishing his schooling, was employed for two years in his brother’s store at Beloit, following which he worked for one year in a grocery store and meat market in Kansas City, Kan., owned by Robert Robinson. His brother, William H., in the meantime, sold out his stock in Beloit and removed to Hoxie, Kan., and was employed in a bank for a year and one-half. Financial disaster overtook the bank, and he then spent one year in Kansas City, Kan., after which, in 1891, he went to western Nebraska and entered the employ of Harris Bros., a firm of grain dealers with headquarters in Lincoln, Neb. Mr. Allen was located in the town of Stamford, Lebanon, and Republican City, Neb., in the employ of Harris Bros. and was then transferred to the main office of the firm of Lincoln, Neb., where he remained until 1893. From 1893 to 1895, he was in the employ of Hathaway & Williams, fire insurance agents, of Lincoln, and when this firm sold out he traveled for a period of six months in the interests of an Omaha fire insurance company. After his marriage, in 1895, he resided in Michigan for one year, and in 1896 he again entered the employ of the Harris Bros. Grain Company, which firm was later incorporated as the Central Granaries, a very rich corporation. He remained with this concern until 1898, when he entered the employ of the McCormick Harvester Company as bookkeeper, with headquarters at Lincoln, Neb. He was in the employ of the McCormick people until 1903. In the meantime he had formed a partnership with his father-in-law, Jacob P. Sprang, in the grocery and meat market business in Muscotah, where Mr. Allen has resided permanently since 1903.
Edmond W. Allen was married in 1895 to Miss Lucie Sprang, and their children are as follows: Una L., born in 1896, and is a senior in the fine arts and music department of Kansas University. Miss Una is a teacher of piano and violin, and has a large class of pupils. Mrs. Allen was born on a farm in Benton township, Atchison county, five miles south of Effingham, and is a daughter of Jacob P. Sprang, who built up a fine farm in Atchison county, and established the business which is now owned by Mr. Allen. While Mr. Allen is a Republican, he votes independently on local and county matters. He was formerly a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, but since coming to Muscotah has united with the Congregational church of this place. He is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security.